Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-09-02

TO the Editor of the Free Press :

writing there WAS no such thiuy rs ro,n
mas. culous canit.ls intarro,otio,, ,aint,
., ,,l,.,, ,,.,'!... 0-,''''OH fO,u,9'
o'"'' PuuCOua'loh n'lrKs now USED ny
an TeSPectHple writers q publishers. In
the old Hebrew manuscripts the words
are not divided bv any narticul,r ,u.rl,,
M. su,ces Ernn, tba tina af ,l,,,i, d..
,,.,,i,,',,,i...l ',.' nv ''''I VI ,''ii m'S
'"ii P"9lVlp" "u"u 10 ne cIose OF Inc ldI
mud-at the end Of the fifth century Of
our era. according to the Hebrew scholar
DilImau. Inc words of the fowl arc NOT
distinguished th..v ,,,ro ,,o, -,
ny "V'' HoO 'oo"iI"eu
~ 81 vi course not puhctuated, Tue effort
10 NOCHllHe " pronounce the words 4;
COMPREHEND their combined meaning, led
10 thelr division into sections, sentences
\ 50 to the use of punctu t ON marks.
ne lalhud al the present day. y y the
public or holy manuscripts vt the Jews,
/ present an imprinted text Accent. en-
/ phaslS. injection. ~ certainly puuSeN, were
! observed by the reader from the first
| though they were NOT marked in the III nu-
| script. mat they were used Is rendered
| almost certain ny the fact that the signs
/ which now determine the pronunciation
are said to be not an invention but Il traGi-
! tlon,-a tradition formulated * like win
/ tina greatest CWe by eminent Hebrew
scholars-the MassOretes, now all 1"-
| brew, except the synagogue rolls, is writ
| ten * read according TO the MaSsOretlc
punctuation. lheir artificial things are
| hardly anything more than natural *
| necessary things shaped aud brought to
| gether or separated ny the MasSoreteS.
The New Testament manuscripts differ
somewhat from the Old. The writing
| was entirely i'll uncials or capitals, with
no separation of the words except rarely
to indicate the beginning % new para
graph, no DreathlngS, accents or dlstlnC
| ton OF INITIAL letters, ~ lew II any marks
] nuIctuHtlOn.
ton" says DR.. Ezra Abbot, was by means
OF bank space ~ a simple point. Eu-
| thalluS, deacon OF Alexandra, IN the
year 4oS pnDllshed an edltlOn or the eps-
| Ties OF Paul, ~ soon alter the Acts x
Catholic Epistles, written StichOHeticdl-
N, /. e. i'll single lines continuing only so
many words rs could he read, consistent
| ~ with the sense, at single Inspiration.
! This mode of writing was used long be
fore in copying the poelicai books OF the
Old Testament.
10 ali unpractlSed eye, however fAmll-
lar with the individual characters, an an
Gent manuscript or description, ~ iiepr e
| T. Marsh i'll his Lectures GA the Elglish
Language says, ~, but Il ronlueed Il IN
distinct succession OF letter" u no little
experience Is requlred TO napIe a. ;ed''lly
| 10 group ,hest letters mt syllHpit-, the
| sylldbes into word, u - continue TIE
/ words into separate periods Indeed the
Il c'Iental omission Of space III printing
Wvrn two successive words IN our uWn
! language sometimes seriously tmpHIia~>es
ne, * II Whole sentence were thus prht
ed ne shunld find it almost a5 uninteli-
Lihle H. a complicated cipher" Mr.. Marsh
gives an illustration from FuIler's Wor
thies, work OF the l'th century. IT
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
ELLETHATDEEDwHER EINSENTENCESANDW
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TO
PS NLLCONTINUEDTOGETH
Breaks succession of thoughts x the
relation of one to the other are necessity
in composition 81 writing, nor are pauses
for breath, modulation of voice for EN-
phass, questions q answers, Il marks or
signs to indicate these things hardly less
so for the reader q speaker. All these
greatly help in understanding what Is
written 4 read. Punctuation then we
must have for the best writing X reading
What shall it be : Are there any rules
& standards
"A glance at many OF our NEWSPAPERS,
magazines & books even shows that their
editors & publishers, if not their writers
do now what the lsraelites did when there
was no Judge in Israel, each what Is
right in his own eyes" Certainly there
is no uniformity in a certain class of News
Papers. nor can rule or reason be given
for what they do. Take almost any one
of this class for an illustration. One now
lies before me. 1t is the Free Press *
Times of Burlington. In 1t there Is an
article, THE ANDovER CASE. In this arti-
Gle the corporate names or titles OF the
Professors in the Andover Theological
Seminary, as the Professor of Biblical
Theology, the Professor OF Sacred Rheto-
ric &c. are several times printed but each
time in lower case letters, thus. 'profes--
sor OF biblical theology" professor OF
sacred rhetoric" In another article OF
the same paper the corporate name OF Yer,
monts honored Convention, The General
Convention of the Congregational Minis
tiers q Churches of Vermont, The Houses
of Congress, The House of representa-
tives, e. Senate, with several ecclesiastical
titles & titles of honor are treated in the
same way. Nor is the copy of the paper
that lies before me different from the or
binary in this respect, or from many 9th
ers in Vermont q other States.
The Comma takes high rank among oul
punctuation marks, il it is not of first I'M
portance. Its use IN the class of papers
ielerreu 10 Is peIhapS leSs ~ vit,.
Inelr use ol cdplldle out lle!ueHeiS l"ulus
der tb .n'o cantio or, Cnnp is KITG "Secre
tarv Stone announced from the board OF
t.a31e aoiIerv traders in corn would to
e.''io So.iSiiS $500 10 ,,Laot ~ ;,